Rapid prototyping using the LabVIEW environment

The paper discusses the use of LabVIEW, a commercial Virtual Instrument software package, within the systems development lifecycle. In particular, the application of LabVIEW to the rapid prototyping stage of systems development is explored. This aspect of the systems development process concerns the ability to produce a representative emulation of a proposed system or subsystem at an early stage in the development cycle and at relatively little cost but at high speed. Initial evaluation of the proposed system can then be undertaken In an easy to change environment before commitment a hardware based prototype or production, is made. The specific application of this approach is for the teaching of Systems Engineering students within an MEng degree course funded by BAe (Military Aircraft) at Loughborough University. A need to expose the students to as broad a range of systems development processes as possible led to the search for easy to use systems process tools. Tools such as Matrix X have been used for systems modelling within large organisations, but these can be complex for easy student use. LabVIEW has been found to provide rapid prototyping functionality for a range of systems in an easy to use environment.